Farewell to Football's Greatest Philosopher

Over the years, the sport of football has had many legends. But few have managed to personify an idea of how football should be played. Dutch legend Johan Cruyff is one of those individuals. One of the most gifted players in history, his work as Barcelona's manager redefined what it meant to play football and left a sea of followers and imitators. 

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff , known simply as Johan Cruyff, was born in April 25, 1947. He rose through the ranks at Ajax and was one of the greatest pupils of Dutch coach Rinus Michels, the man known as the progenitor of the “Total Football” style of play that raised Dutch football from obscurity to superpower status in the 70s. With Ajax, Cruyff won three European Cups. 

In 1973, he joined Barcelona for a then world record transfer fee. While he only won one league title with Barca, his influence in Catalonia stretches further. But more on that later.

On the international stage, Cruyff helped the Netherlands reach the finals of the 1974 World Cup and was the best player of the tournament, winning the Golden Ball.

After a successful playing career, Cruyff dove into management. And that's where the second chapter of his story began. First with Ajax and then with Barcelona, Cruyff remained a devoted believer in total football. But in addition to employing it on the field, Cruyff wanted to establish an academy at Barcelona that would follow in the footsteps of Ajax's famous academy. It was from this wish of his that Barcelona's famous La Masia academy was established in 1979. 

Cruyff ensured that kids that came into La Masia played together and learned together. As they grew up together, they would develop an almost kinetic connection on the pitch, knowing what the other person was doing without having to look. It was here that the football minds of Pep Guardiola, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, among others, were created. 

Cruyff's ideas were reiterated by countless other managers that have gone through the same Ajax and Barcelona route, influencing the styles of Louis van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard. Through Guardiola, Cruyff's ideas ended up in Germany with Bayern Munich. Manuel Neuer, goalkeeper for the current world champions Germany, completed more passes than Lionel Messi in the 2014 World Cup. This reflected the Cruyffian idea that a goalkeeper should be more than just a shot-stopper, an idea that Victor Valdes and Edwin van der Sar had followed at Barcelona and Ajax respectively. 

Cruyff won the La Liga four times between 1991 and 1994 with Barcelona and the European Cup in 1992. But more importantly, it was Cruyff's ideas that led to Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Lionel Messi spending the days of their youth playing piggy-in-the-middle football at La Masia. And it was his ideas that formed the bedrock of everything great that every modern Barcelona team and, in turn, the Spanish national team of 2008-2012 achieved. As Barcelona rule over world football, much is owed to this one man and his radical ideas.

Rayaan Ibtesham Chowdhury is a business student who spends his nights trying to write a fantasy novel. Mail him at rayaansmail@gmail.com if you want to talk about dragons in suits.